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January 21, 2009

President Obama prays before and after inauguration

Parsons, Valentine, Reyes-Chow attend National Prayer Service

by Chris Herlinger
Ecumenical News International

NEW YORK ― Barack Obama attended prayers before he became the 44th president of the United States at a ceremony seen to spotlight the complexities of U.S. religious pluralism and the relationship of the United States with the rest of the world.

Obama and his wife Michelle were accompanied to St John’s Episcopal Church on Lafayette Square, across from the White House, by his vice president-elect Joe Biden and his wife Jill. At the service, Pentecostal Pastor T. D. Jakes preached.

“The problems are mighty, and the solutions are not simple,” Jakes said. “And everywhere you turn, there will be a critic waiting to attack every decision that you make. But you are all fired up, sir, and you are ready to go. And this nation goes with you. God goes with you.”

President Obama, a Christian son of a white Protestant mother from Kansas and a black Muslim father from Kenya, attended the National Prayer Service at Washington National Cathedral early on Jan. 21. There the Rev. Sharon E. Watkins, the president of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), became the first woman to lead the traditional post-inaugural service, which dates back to the first presidency.

The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) was officially represented at the National Prayer Service by General Assembly Stated Clerk Gradye Parsons, General Assembly Moderator Bruce Reyes-Chow and General Assembly Council Executive Director Linda Valentine.

Watkins said, “In times, such as these, we the people need you, the leaders of this nation, to be guided by the counsel that Isaiah gave so long ago, to work for the common good, for the public happiness, the well-being of the nation and the world, knowing that our individual well-being depends upon a world in which liberty and justice prevail.”

The day before, the first African American U.S. president sent a conciliatory signal to the Islamic world, when he said during his inauguration speech, “To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect.”

Robert King, in his “Thou shalt blog” column headed, “An Inaugural speech that recognizes America’s religious patchwork” for the Indianapolis Star newspaper, wrote on Jan. 21.: “This was an inaugural that mentioned God three times … Obama referred to the ‘God-given promise that we are all equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.’ He referred to the ‘source of our confidence ― the knowledge that God calls on us to shape an uncertain destiny.’”

King said, however, more interesting were the parts that “showed Obama has a pretty good understanding of America’s diverse religious landscape. Chief among them was this one: ‘For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus ― and non-believers.’”

King noted, “To me … it is important to realize that Christians and Muslims are already living together peacefully under the Stars and Stripes. The reference to Jews and Hindus, while not as potent, parallels Obama’s inclusion of rabbis and Hindus in the National Prayer Service on Wednesday. By going beyond the Abrahamic faiths to include Hindus, Obama showed an understanding that America’s religious quilt is indeed more complex than ever before. And I wonder, is this the first inaugural speech to ever mention Hindus?”

King said it might also have been the first inaugural speech to refer to non-believers, noting, “Ironic that it should come after atheists and agnostics, the out and out secularists, have so loudly complained that the Obama inauguration had become inundated ― swamped, if you will ― with religious fervor."

Obama pledged to poorer nations in his speech, “to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds.” He added, “And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world’s resources without regard to the effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it. “